Just a quick hardware swap he said......

[pclarksurf]

Not that I needed to be reminded that a 47 year old boat invents new and unique ways to keep me busy.... but in preparation for a weeklong sail in Couer D'Alene in August I'm working through a few mechanical nice to have's like upgrading gudgeons and pintles. I always knew the long pintle had been "repaired" and figured I don't need any week busting events while I'm out of town.

After pulling them-- good thing I did, both are in pretty bad shape with very visible metal fatigue all around:

But of course it can't be that easy-- whatever abuse the hardware took, so too did the rudder suffer. At first it looked like typical gel coat cracking, but you can see that deep line extends and wraps completely around the stock. Out comes the file and I started in to see how deep and sure enough-- all the way through to the wood core. I'm lucky in that my boat has been dry historically, so I don't currently have waterlogged material to compromise. More to come, but the grinder is out, the epoxy is mixing and it looks like I have a mini rudder repair on my hands Not going to go nuts right this second, but filling the old holes and excavation, potting new hardware and took the time to remove all the bottom paint which I hated anyway. Will toss a quick coat of leftover white for good measure and go sailing.

 

[Rillo]

Good plan to patch & go. Save the full on repair for winter. I see there has been a crack repair on the Aft edge. Very familiar. These things aren’t much more than a chunk of plywood faired with Bondo. Mine returns to the cabin after every sail. Did you get the 1/2” pintle upgrade?

 

[pclarksurf]

Definitely did upgrade to 1/2” — that was my original goal when I found the damage— I had done 3/8” gudgeons a year ago in a quick fix but it’s time to replace both. Luckily the gudgeon hole pattern is the same — all the work goes to the rudder.

It’s getting a leading and trailing edge of cloth just for insurance before I tidy up some fairing dings and paint.

 

[pclarksurf]

Darn good thing this is smaller than a keel Glass faired in, test fit and new holes drilled, gudgeons and pintles applied-- one last fairing coat and I'll hopefully have enough left over paint to make it to the road trip:

 

[pclarksurf]

Fair as she's going to get-- shot of the damaged core with evidence no more, and a nice glossy overcoat of resin. Might get a shot at painting it tomorrow night-- evening have finally cooled off enough to work in the garage. Fast cure hardener works really too well above 90 degrees! No time for lollygagging

 

[shemandr]

I hope you are soon returned to your avatar repose! Looks like a sound repair. Enjoy your trip!

 

[Hardhead]

Nice work. The captain of a C22 builds a lot of character...

 

[ShawnL]

I agree about the temperature. Nothing like having a batch of epoxy cook off in your cup before you even begin applying it.

 

[shemandr]

Especially if your cup is on your car’s leather seat and the heat melts the cup. That scar never went away. It was smoking before I got to the boat and I’m probably lucky to not have torched the car.

 

[pclarksurf]

Epic Frustrating fail-- god I suck at painting. I had exactly enough awlgrip for two coats each side-- period... not a drop to spare. I guess the good take away is that by sucking frequently I'm actually getting better over time. Good thing I was treating the rudder as a temporary paint job anyway-- definitely a tale of two sides-- I will not allow anyone to see my boat from the Frankenstein profile

the good minus the ratty edge:

The ugly:

 

[Grotto]

The organic ridge is obviously designed to disturb the laminar flow across the rudder creating less drag.......